Yang Zhao,1,2,* Jialong Chen,1,2,* Muran Zhou,1,2 Guo Zhang,1,2 Wenhao Wu,1,2 Zhenxing Wang,1,2 Jiaming Sun,1,2 Aimei Zhong1,2 

1Department of Plastic Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430022, People’s Republic of China; 2Wuhan Clinical Research Center for Superficial Organ Reconstruction, Wuhan, 430022, People’s Republic of China

*These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence: Aimei Zhong; Jiaming Sun, Department of Plastic Surgery, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 1277 Jiefang Avenue, Wuhan, 430022, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86-13317174169 ; +86-13986246496, Fax +86-027-85726240, Email aimei_zhong@hust.edu.cn; sunjm1592@sina.com

Background: Delayed diabetic wound healing is one of the clinical difficulties, the main reason is the limited angiogenesis ability. Deferriamine (DFO) is an iron chelating agent that can induce angiogenesis, but its application is limited due to its short half-life. Increasing the load and slow release performance of desferriamine is beneficial to accelerate diabetic wound healing.
Materials and Methods: In this study, we developed collagen (Col)-graphene oxide (GO) and (1% w/w) DFO-loaded nanofiber electrospinning scaffolds (DCG) using the electrospinning technique. We tested the physicochemical properties, drug release performance, and vascularization biological function of the scaffolds, and finally evaluated the promotion of full-thickness wound healing in the diabetic rat models.
Results: The results showed that DCG scaffolds have good mechanical properties and water-holding capacity and can release DFO continuously for 14 days. In vitro, the novel DCG scaffold exhibited good biocompatibility, with the up-regulation at the gene level of VEGF and its regulator HIF-1α, promoters of angiogenesis. This was verified in vivo, as the scaffold enhanced granulation tissue formation and improved neovascularization, thereby accelerating wound healing when applied to full-thickness defects on the back of diabetic rats.
Conclusion: The DCG nanofiber scaffold prepared in this study has good biocompatibility and vascularization ability, and improves the microenvironment in vivo, and has a good application prospect in diabetic wound repair.

Keywords: diabetic wounds, angiogenesis, desferrioxamine, graphene oxide, electrospinning, drug release